It sounds like it's union LEADERSHIP that's enamored of the DNC and backstage passes. It sure seems as tho union MEMBERS are more left-leaning. It's unfortunate that, as in corporate and political arenas, even union leadership ends up high on their own supply, giddy with their own perceived power, and failing to represent their members. Gee, and their can't possibly be any money exchange involved.
It's I think a relic of my outdated upper-Millennial thinking that I'm worried that an AOC presidential run would be too soon for her. If she wants to run, she should run! She probably has as much of a chance as Bernie did (complimentary, I swear), but at least she forcibly drags the conversation leftward. She also forces the purity sickos in the DSA and WFP to contend with the compromises and games need to be played at the highest levels to actually get things done.
You do not mention foreign policy, not once. That's probably because the DSA doesn't want to talk about it.
Look, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, they're ALL imperialists, all inextricably linked to the MIC and Empire. They're playing the classic Social Democrat card--throw a few more bennies at the masses while preserving the Empire. The aim is to prevent revolution, not to create one.
All of these candidates believe that capitalism can be successfully reformed, and that one of the two government parties can be co-opted by THE PEOPLE into doing the right thing. It's just silly, not to mention utterly hopeless.
We need a Popular Front whose primary goal is to end the Empire so that a Republic can finally be born. Both the Democratic and Republican parties must be destroyed. Reform is impossible. Wake up, smell the coffee, and remember how much more it costs you today than last year.
NO candidate who accepts Empire, or who thinks Israel has the right to exist, or who is for anything less than cutting the war budget by at LEAST half, or who wants to preserve NATO, is acceptable.
America First! It's the socialist thing to do. The MAGA hat is lying in the gutter. All we need do is to pick it up and point it in a different direction, but Jacobin and the DSA are the wrong way to go.
Pay some attention to Ro Khanna. He's solidly backed by PDA, plus he just joined AOC's 'Squad,' Justice Dems. His independent wealth enables him to keep his Silicon Valley seat despite all efforts by Thiel and Co. to drive him out. He's touching many bases, from the Epstein File to War powers. He's also sold on the radical industrial policy view for pro-worker structural reform. I'm not saying he's our best option. but don't ignore him.
I'm sure Ro Khanna would like to be the one to get the Bernie lane in 2028. He has better politics than a lot of Dems who will be running but it's hard for me to see the left unifying around him in the same way that they would AOC.
Ro is going to have serious credibility problems regarding his net worth, a lot of the left wing activist base (and the left wing Poster base) is really going to attack him hard for being, essentially, phony. The critique against Sanders having 3 houses was bullshit. The critique against Ro Khanna's stock trading has a lot more legs.
After the (still ongoing) whiny backlash to this country electing a dude named "Barack Obama," there's no way someone named Ro Khanna is getting elected. Also he's kind of slimy in his own right.
I have a lot of thoughts about this already but I haven’t yet read the DSA piece and the odds that all have time to think all of this through and write about it are slim. I would like to suggest that Union Now might be in a good position to facilitate (without trying to control) the process of sorting this out. I’ve was waiting on bated breath since you mentioned it in your book, but I must admit I’ve been a little disappointed by the dearth of communication since the launch.
An other issue is DSA’s failure until recently to take seriously the need for national coalition. The most powerful organization right now seems to be Indivisible. In a recent interview with Greenberg it seemed to me her position may not differ greatly from Bernie or AOC. As a DSA member very experienced in mass movements (last one was UFPJ re Iraq) I have been impatient with DSA’s lack of strategy for national coalition eg around ICE. We cannot back a candidate by leaning only on the wobbly labor union structure we have now. Indivisible has thousands of people who voted for or believe in Bernie and are involved in electoral politics.
I want to amplify your comment about getting more union members. As you say, it is essential to build a larger, more powerful labor movement. I think it is also a condition precedent (as the philosophers say) to electing people to office who oppose neo-liberalism and who are committed to a pro-worker agenda. Politicians don't pay attention to workers because workers do not (yet) have sufficient leverage over politicians.
Not looking forward to the arguments that will happen if AOC runs. I have leftist friends who find her 100% unacceptable. And I'm sympathetic to some of those arguments. She doesn't always have the best political instincts, and I'm personally not sure if she truly has the "juice" to make a successful run.
That said, I'm very anti-sectarian, so I'll err against intra-left molotov lobbing. But if two or more left-lane candidates announce and it doesn't get resolved pretty quickly, few hold grudges like a socialist scorned. Personally I'll support whoever clears out their orbit in the primary.
Socialists are very good at finding problems with candidates. And they're often not wrong. These can be principled objections about how far you compromise for electoral appeal, and especially imperialism. In my view imperialism is the biggest elephant in the room that's going to fuckin kill us all and progressives have been side-stepping it for decades. But the huge blindspot with these principled critiques tends to be, none of that matters much if leftists *never* win.
The American two party system really pits internal factions (factions which in a sane country w/ proportional representation would *never* be in the same party) against each other in a uniquely fucked way. It's an ideal system for knock-down-drag-out fights and deeply bitter anger.
Nolan, you make great points, and I hope this group takes them seriously.
I also hope they're taking a page from Canada's Avi Lewis, who was recently elected as the federal NDP leadership. My sense is that they probably are. He ran a brilliant campaign, breaking fundraising and membership records. Here's a link to his website: https://lewisisleader.ca/
I'm so happy that we have an excellent, truly left wing candidate in Canada.
I appreciate this and the original post. I don't have anything to contribute save a question: if not AOC, then who? Warren's time has passed. Bernie's too old. None of the other House members have a national profile save maybe Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib? Is there a visible left-leaning liberal governor I'm missing? Are we gonna have to stray into public figure territory? I'm genuinely asking here, I'm not at all trying to be snide. Because I've thought about this too and I don't know who that person can be, save her. And I'm not arguing it SHOULD be here but if there's some under-the-radar person, the time to show themselves is soon.
I had forgotten about Pritzker. I'd like to see him run regardless. As for Khanna, Silicon Valley is unpopular now and it's tough to see that getting better before 2028, especially if/when the AI bubble finally pops. He's too inseparable to rise above it.
It sounds like it's union LEADERSHIP that's enamored of the DNC and backstage passes. It sure seems as tho union MEMBERS are more left-leaning. It's unfortunate that, as in corporate and political arenas, even union leadership ends up high on their own supply, giddy with their own perceived power, and failing to represent their members. Gee, and their can't possibly be any money exchange involved.
It's I think a relic of my outdated upper-Millennial thinking that I'm worried that an AOC presidential run would be too soon for her. If she wants to run, she should run! She probably has as much of a chance as Bernie did (complimentary, I swear), but at least she forcibly drags the conversation leftward. She also forces the purity sickos in the DSA and WFP to contend with the compromises and games need to be played at the highest levels to actually get things done.
You do not mention foreign policy, not once. That's probably because the DSA doesn't want to talk about it.
Look, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Mamdani, they're ALL imperialists, all inextricably linked to the MIC and Empire. They're playing the classic Social Democrat card--throw a few more bennies at the masses while preserving the Empire. The aim is to prevent revolution, not to create one.
All of these candidates believe that capitalism can be successfully reformed, and that one of the two government parties can be co-opted by THE PEOPLE into doing the right thing. It's just silly, not to mention utterly hopeless.
We need a Popular Front whose primary goal is to end the Empire so that a Republic can finally be born. Both the Democratic and Republican parties must be destroyed. Reform is impossible. Wake up, smell the coffee, and remember how much more it costs you today than last year.
NO candidate who accepts Empire, or who thinks Israel has the right to exist, or who is for anything less than cutting the war budget by at LEAST half, or who wants to preserve NATO, is acceptable.
America First! It's the socialist thing to do. The MAGA hat is lying in the gutter. All we need do is to pick it up and point it in a different direction, but Jacobin and the DSA are the wrong way to go.
Pay some attention to Ro Khanna. He's solidly backed by PDA, plus he just joined AOC's 'Squad,' Justice Dems. His independent wealth enables him to keep his Silicon Valley seat despite all efforts by Thiel and Co. to drive him out. He's touching many bases, from the Epstein File to War powers. He's also sold on the radical industrial policy view for pro-worker structural reform. I'm not saying he's our best option. but don't ignore him.
I'm sure Ro Khanna would like to be the one to get the Bernie lane in 2028. He has better politics than a lot of Dems who will be running but it's hard for me to see the left unifying around him in the same way that they would AOC.
I agree. AOC is far more magnetic than Ro. But if she decides not to run, it's a different story. And if she does run, she has my vote all the way.
Ro is going to have serious credibility problems regarding his net worth, a lot of the left wing activist base (and the left wing Poster base) is really going to attack him hard for being, essentially, phony. The critique against Sanders having 3 houses was bullshit. The critique against Ro Khanna's stock trading has a lot more legs.
After the (still ongoing) whiny backlash to this country electing a dude named "Barack Obama," there's no way someone named Ro Khanna is getting elected. Also he's kind of slimy in his own right.
I have a lot of thoughts about this already but I haven’t yet read the DSA piece and the odds that all have time to think all of this through and write about it are slim. I would like to suggest that Union Now might be in a good position to facilitate (without trying to control) the process of sorting this out. I’ve was waiting on bated breath since you mentioned it in your book, but I must admit I’ve been a little disappointed by the dearth of communication since the launch.
An other issue is DSA’s failure until recently to take seriously the need for national coalition. The most powerful organization right now seems to be Indivisible. In a recent interview with Greenberg it seemed to me her position may not differ greatly from Bernie or AOC. As a DSA member very experienced in mass movements (last one was UFPJ re Iraq) I have been impatient with DSA’s lack of strategy for national coalition eg around ICE. We cannot back a candidate by leaning only on the wobbly labor union structure we have now. Indivisible has thousands of people who voted for or believe in Bernie and are involved in electoral politics.
I want to amplify your comment about getting more union members. As you say, it is essential to build a larger, more powerful labor movement. I think it is also a condition precedent (as the philosophers say) to electing people to office who oppose neo-liberalism and who are committed to a pro-worker agenda. Politicians don't pay attention to workers because workers do not (yet) have sufficient leverage over politicians.
Not looking forward to the arguments that will happen if AOC runs. I have leftist friends who find her 100% unacceptable. And I'm sympathetic to some of those arguments. She doesn't always have the best political instincts, and I'm personally not sure if she truly has the "juice" to make a successful run.
That said, I'm very anti-sectarian, so I'll err against intra-left molotov lobbing. But if two or more left-lane candidates announce and it doesn't get resolved pretty quickly, few hold grudges like a socialist scorned. Personally I'll support whoever clears out their orbit in the primary.
Socialists are very good at finding problems with candidates. And they're often not wrong. These can be principled objections about how far you compromise for electoral appeal, and especially imperialism. In my view imperialism is the biggest elephant in the room that's going to fuckin kill us all and progressives have been side-stepping it for decades. But the huge blindspot with these principled critiques tends to be, none of that matters much if leftists *never* win.
The American two party system really pits internal factions (factions which in a sane country w/ proportional representation would *never* be in the same party) against each other in a uniquely fucked way. It's an ideal system for knock-down-drag-out fights and deeply bitter anger.
Nolan, you make great points, and I hope this group takes them seriously.
I also hope they're taking a page from Canada's Avi Lewis, who was recently elected as the federal NDP leadership. My sense is that they probably are. He ran a brilliant campaign, breaking fundraising and membership records. Here's a link to his website: https://lewisisleader.ca/
I'm so happy that we have an excellent, truly left wing candidate in Canada.
It’s not nitpicking or negativity to lay out real challenges. And you do that well.
I appreciate this and the original post. I don't have anything to contribute save a question: if not AOC, then who? Warren's time has passed. Bernie's too old. None of the other House members have a national profile save maybe Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib? Is there a visible left-leaning liberal governor I'm missing? Are we gonna have to stray into public figure territory? I'm genuinely asking here, I'm not at all trying to be snide. Because I've thought about this too and I don't know who that person can be, save her. And I'm not arguing it SHOULD be here but if there's some under-the-radar person, the time to show themselves is soon.
Pritzker could credibly slide into that lane, maybe Liz Warren tries again, but it's pretty slim pickings outside of AOC or (unfortunately) Ro Khanna.
I had forgotten about Pritzker. I'd like to see him run regardless. As for Khanna, Silicon Valley is unpopular now and it's tough to see that getting better before 2028, especially if/when the AI bubble finally pops. He's too inseparable to rise above it.
Yeah, that and the whole slimy stock-trading thing is why I'm not very high on him.
Profiles can rise fast!
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